Kitten, Continued

[queerbychoice]

The first night she was with me, I shut the kitten in the bathroom, because I didn't trust her unsupervised in a separate room from her litterbox all night long yet, and I also didn't trust her unsupervised in a room full of chewable electrical cords all night long yet, and anyway I needed to sleep well and be able to get up for work the next morning, and I didn't trust her not to wake me up all night long.

But the second night I decided to see how she'd handle it. I tried to put her on the bed with me, but she just jumped right off. I let her wander. Within less than five minutes, she came back and leaped onto the bed and curled up next to me and slept there the whole night through. She did wake me up a few times by sneezing, but that was certainly not her fault (and my own coughing woke me up sometimes too, and probably her as well).

This morning she discovered that there is a kitten in the bathroom mirror. She couldn't see the kitten until she had climbed  up onto a ledge on the countertop that immediately put her nose to nose with it. She froze, wide-eyed, and trembled, and except for her trembling and a few attempts to duck her head below the ledge where the kitten couldn't see her, she didn't move for about five minutes. But eventually she decided that since it hadn't attacked her yet, it must be a friendly kitten, so she started batting at it happily, and now she is delighted with her new playmate.

She's strangely finicky about her toys. She loves any of them that I'll wave around for her, and she's quite capable of playing all by herself by running around pouncing on random spots on the floor even though there's nothing there. But she seems to have no interest whatsoever in batting around actual non-imaginary objects unless I make them move for her. Even when I take the exact same toy that she loves me to wave around for her, and hang that by a string from a doorknob, she wants nothing to do with it unless I'm moving it around for her. I've never known a kitten who could resist dangling strings so well.

I'm still working on naming her. Google has failed me! It won't tell me what Emily Dickinson named her cats. It will only tell me that Emily Dickinson wrote a poem about a cat, and that someone else once suggested a title of a poem to be written by Emily Dickinson's cat. Doesn't anyone realize that being able to easily find the names of Emily Dickinson's cats is important?

Comments

[q10.livejournal.com]

you may have access to a library with a copy of Dickinson's complete correspondence, which has been published, and which i believe is decently indexed, and so would probably be a good source.

i'd check myself, but i'm away from home and my copy isn't accessible. i can see if i can find some information for you if you can't find a copy yourself.

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

Oh, actually, I own Emily Dickinson's complete correspondence. I'm pretty sure she didn't mention any cat names in it, though, so I really need someone else to have happened to write down her cats' names somewhere. But I'll double check.

[silverchan.livejournal.com]

Your kitten is much smarter than my cats! Mine have never even noticed mirrors.

[legolastn.livejournal.com]

*insert crude comment about Emily Dickinson's pussy here*

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

*insert exclamation of much surprise at the revelation that you are actually only 12 years old*

perhaps......

[joannasatana.livejournal.com]

perhaps you should just name her Emily?

she really sorta DOES look like an Emily (at least to me)

and you could make all KINDS of cool nicknames outta that one. Em, Emmie, Eminemily, MeMe, Millie, Millie Vanilli, etc etc etc.....

besides that, the band the Zombies have one of the most beautifully melancholic killer stab you in the heart songs called "A Rose For Emily"


just a suggestion?

ps feel free to delete this if its too long, but read the lyrics! Im gonna see if I can find a link to an MP3 or somethin too......even if you DONT name her Emily.....you should hear the song because its so darn good!

A Rose For Emily by the Zombies
The summer is here at last
The sky is overcast
And no one brings a rose for Emily

She watches her flowers grow
While lovers come and go
To give each other roses from her tree
But not a rose for Emily...

Emily, can't you see
There's nothing you can do?
There's loving everywhere
But none for you...

Her roses are fading now
She keeps her pride somehow
That's all she has protecting her from pain

And as the years go by
She will grow old and die
The roses in her garden fade away
Not one left for her grave
Not a rose for Emily...

Emily, can't you see
There's nothing you can do?
There's loving everywhere
But none for you...

Her roses are fading now
She keeps her pride somehow
That's all she has protecting her from pain

And as the years go by
She will grow old and die
The roses in her garden fade away
Not one left for her grave
Not a rose for Emily...

Re: perhaps......

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

I did consider that, but (a) it would feel too much like naming her after lilerthkwake, which would just be weird, and (b) I'd prefer a genderfree name.

Actually, she's probably going to be Stardust, because I havne't been able to think of anything else I like equally well.

yay for your cat!

[misterkrista.livejournal.com]

If you end up naming her Emily you should actually call her Emily Dickinson like how in Sex and the City one character has a dog named Elizabeth Taylor and always calls her the full name.